Nursing Assistant Resume Example (2026) + Writing Guide
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Charge nurses, HR screeners, and the applicant tracking systems many hospitals and long-term-care facilities use all scan for the same things: a current CNA certification, hands-on patient-care experience, the right setting (hospital, SNF, home health), and the keywords from the job posting. A great nursing assistant resume makes those obvious in seconds.
Below is a complete, recruiter-style nursing assistant resume example, followed by the specific skills and ATS keywords to include and how to write each section so your experience reads as impact, not a job description.
Nursing Assistant resume example
Professional Summary
Compassionate, state-certified nursing assistant with 5 years of experience delivering direct patient care in acute and long-term settings. Cared for up to 12 patients per shift while maintaining a 98% on-time vital-signs charting rate and contributing to a 30% reduction in patient falls. Skilled in ADLs, vital-signs monitoring, infection control, and EHR documentation.
Experience
- Provided direct care for up to 12 patients per shift, assisting with ADLs, mobility, and hygiene while maintaining a 98% on-time vital-signs charting rate.
- Implemented hourly rounding and bedside fall-risk checks that helped cut unit patient falls by 30% over 12 months.
- Documented intake/output and vital signs in Epic EHR with 99% accuracy across 200+ shifts, flagging changes to RNs early.
- Trained and onboarded 6 new CNAs on infection-control protocols and safe patient-transfer techniques.
- Supported 15–18 long-term-care residents per shift with ADLs, repositioning, and feeding while preserving dignity and comfort.
- Maintained a 100% compliance record on hand-hygiene and PPE audits across two consecutive survey cycles.
- Reduced pressure-injury incidents on the unit by 25% through consistent 2-hour repositioning and skin checks.
Skills
Education
Certifications
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) — Arizona State Board of Nursing
- BLS / CPR Certified (American Heart Association)
- First Aid Certified
Key skills & keywords for a nursing assistant resume
Hard skills: Activities of daily living (ADLs), Vital signs (BP, pulse, temp, respiration), Patient transfers & safe lifting, Infection control & PPE, EHR/EMR documentation (Epic, Cerner), Catheter, ostomy & wound care basics, Intake/output monitoring.
Soft skills: Compassion, Communication, Attention to detail, Teamwork, Patience, Time management.
ATS keywords to mirror from the job post: certified nursing assistant, CNA, ADLs, vital signs, patient care, BLS/CPR, fall prevention, EHR documentation.
Lead with certification and a results-focused summary
Facilities screen for a current CNA certification first, so name it in your headline and summary — along with BLS/CPR and your state — instead of burying it under education. Then make the summary about outcomes: patients cared for per shift, charting accuracy, falls or pressure injuries prevented.
Avoid generic openers like “hardworking caregiver passionate about helping people.” Replace them with a specific, quantified claim a charge nurse can picture, such as “cared for up to 12 patients per shift with 98% on-time charting.”
Turn duties into quantified impact
Every nursing assistant “assists with ADLs” and “takes vital signs” — those don’t differentiate you. Show the result: how many patients per shift, how much fall or pressure-injury rates dropped, your charting accuracy, audit-compliance scores, or new CNAs you trained. Numbers make a nursing assistant resume stand out.
Start each bullet with a strong verb (Provided, Implemented, Documented, Reduced) and end with a measurable outcome.
Mirror the facility’s job posting
Pull the exact setting and terms from the posting (e.g. “skilled nursing,” “acute care,” “Hoyer lift,” “Epic,” “restorative care”) and use them where they’re true of you. Many hospitals and long-term-care facilities use ATS software that ranks for these terms, and charge nurses look for the same fit signals.
Common mistakes on a Nursing Assistant resume
- Listing duties instead of measurable results (no patients-per-shift, no fall or pressure-injury numbers).
- Hiding your CNA certification, license number, and BLS status at the bottom of the page.
- A generic objective ("seeking a caregiving role to use my skills") instead of a results summary.
- Not tailoring the care setting and tools (acute, SNF, home health, Epic, Hoyer lift) to the specific posting.
- Going past one page, or using a heavily designed template that ATS parsers can’t read.
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Frequently asked questions
What should a nursing assistant resume include?
A results-focused summary, your CNA certification and BLS/CPR status, quantified experience bullets (patients per shift, charting accuracy, falls prevented), a skills section, education or training program, and your care setting. Tailor the keywords to each facility’s job posting.
How do I write a nursing assistant resume with no experience?
Lead with your CNA certification and state-approved training program, treat clinical rotations and your externship like a job with quantified bullets, and highlight ADLs, vital signs, infection control, and any caregiving, volunteer, or home-health work. A focused summary plus a strong skills section carries a first-time nursing assistant resume.
How long should a nursing assistant resume be?
One page for almost all nursing assistants. Keep formatting simple so applicant tracking systems can parse it, and lead with certification and recent patient-care experience.
What are good skills to put on a nursing assistant resume?
Mix hard skills (ADLs, vital signs, patient transfers, infection control, EHR documentation) with soft skills (compassion, communication, attention to detail, teamwork), and mirror the exact terms in the job posting.
Should a nursing assistant resume have an objective or a summary?
Use a summary, not an objective. A summary states the impact you’ve had (e.g. “cared for up to 12 patients per shift with a 98% charting rate”), which is far more persuasive to a hiring manager than an objective describing what you want.
